


A Proposed Rest (MtG Month of the Ship Week 1: Asking Out)

by Wolkemesser



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 09:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18363689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolkemesser/pseuds/Wolkemesser
Summary: Part of the MTG Month of the Ship. Ratepe and Xantcha discuss future plans while setting a trap for Phyrexians; a bit of levity for these sweet characters before things get serious.Takes place during the Planeswalker novel.





	A Proposed Rest (MtG Month of the Ship Week 1: Asking Out)

“Xantcha?”

The voice, immediately familiar though it was, gave Xantcha a start. One hand went to her sword, the other clutched the star-shaped artifact she had been about to place on the wall. Urza’s mechanical spiders would be as deadly to her as they would be to the other phyrexian infiltrators, and one accidental drop could trigger all the ones she had planted already, immediately killing any creature with glistening-oil in its veins.

Xantcha included.

Her panic was plain enough that Ratepe fell silent immediately, clapping a hand to his mouth and taking a short step backward.

“Sorry, I thought you’d finished.”

“Had a few extras.” Xantcha patted the satchel hanging at her hip. “Waste not, want not.”

“Right.” Ratepe looked at his feet, sheepish. “Do you…can I help you with the rest?”

She nodded and patted the bag one more time, then turned to keep planting the devices. The church of Avohir they stood in was empty at the moment, but on the day of the glimmer moon’s zenith it would be full of villagers and phyrexian sleeper agents alike, and the spiders would quickly reveal the latter for what they were.

Ratepe reached into the satchel and withdrew another spider, wandering off to the altar to plant it. He knew the religious customs here better than Urza or Xantcha did, so she trusted him to find a spot that would not be easily uncovered during the festivities.

They worked in silence for another ten minutes before Ratepe spoke again.

“Xantcha…I’ve been thinking…”

“Yes, I think that’s enough for one building. Any more and they’ll be too clustered together.”

“No, not that.” A pause. “About…about us.”

He was standing five feet away, down the main aisle of the temple. Agitated, the same way he got when he wanted to suggest a plan to Urza but couldn’t find an opening.

“Alright.”

“I like you.”

Xantcha blinked. “What?”

“I…I like you. Love you, even.”

“I guessed that.” Xantcha stepped toward Ratepe, eyebrow raised. “We’ve shared a bed for over-”

“I don’t mean that.” He looked away, at one of the windows looking out on the night sky.  “We…we’ve never talked about what this is. What it _will_ be when all this is over. Urza won’t need me forever. He knows in his heart that I’m not his brother, and when he throws me out, I don’t want to lose you.”

“He wouldn’t.” Xantcha doubted the words even as she said them. Three thousand years with Urza and he still caught her off-guard with his mood swings. Still, she had to find something to comfort Ratepe. “I wouldn’t let him, I’d-”

Ratepe laughed bitterly. “You’d stop the great Urza Planeswalker?”

“For you, I’d try.”

He fell silent, and a silence that could only have been awkward hung between them.

“I want…” Ratepe began slowly, his eyes darting up toward Xantcha as if he was trying to find his words in the shadows of her face. “I want to be yours. Your…lover, yes but more than that.”

“There will be time later for us to talk about that.”

“Yes, but…” Ratepe bit his lip. “Let’s go somewhere after this. Just the two of us. Not the cabin, not any of these phyrexian-infested cities, somewhere we can just be together. I…I could cook all the meals, and maybe we’d see somewhere…somewhere nice for a change.”

“Unless I’ve overlooked some sort of strange Shratta custom, I think it’s customary to ask out a partner before you’ve begun a relationship. Besides, haven’t you had enough of travel?”

“Yes, but…what if we went somewhere _not_ as a mission for Urza?” The flush on his face was obvious, even by the scant light of the null moon. “Just a day for you and me. A week, even. We could go somewhere and just, watch the sea, or explore for the sake of exploring, or just…enjoy the quiet together. I don’t just want to be lovers of convenience.”

Xantcha stared at him for several long seconds, and he looked back, intent and intense, even as he bit into his lip. Certain words had been forming in the back of her throat since he had first asked, but she only now managed to push them past her teeth.

“And you are sure that…that after all _this_ is over,” She gestured around the church, where devices lay dormant, ready to wipe the phyrexian threat from the country. “That you’ll still want that? That you won’t want to find some…some Shratta girl to enjoy the peace with? Someone who can give you the sort of life you want?”

She hadn’t even finished before Ratepe stepped forward, gently taking her now-empty hands.

“I’m not thinking of children now, or of any life I thought I was going to have before. I…I don’t know what the future will bring for us, for this country, this plane, but I know I want this.” He squeezed her hands. “I want to give this a chance.”

Xantcha could feel her own face getting warm.

“That…that is, if _you_ want this. A silly city-boy who’ll be old and grey in just a fraction of your lifespan.”

A smile, ever so small, curled the side of Xantcha’s mouth. Ratepe was no idiot, but his streak of foolishness was endearing every now and then.

“Well, we’ve got some time before then.” She pulled his hands toward her chest and closed the distance between them. “Until then…waste not, want not. I think I’ll take you up on that outing.”

Then her lips were on his, and, at least for the moment, that was enough.

_The above is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC._


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